Gundam thread

[Mauro Fonseca]

So. After there was some discussion on the status updates, I thought we could have a Gundam thread, as I don't want to drag stuff around on the updates.
 
WHAT THE FUCK IS A GUNDAM

The Gundam franchise is one of the oldest Japanese media franchises, created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yatate, and one of the most influential. While trying to describe the faction as a whole is a bit useless due to so many variants, I think it can be said Gundam is generally about giant robots normally in military contests, war scenarios, mankind's relation with space, and main robots with white colour schemes and a v-fin.

Going in more detail, the Gundam franchise is divided in various franchises and continuities, of which the main one, ironically, is amongst the most ignored in the US- Universal Century. The US will instead be more familiar with the ones most successful on Toonami- Mobile Fighter G Gundam (Future Century), Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (Mars Century), and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed (Cosmic Era).

How about we go over each one until now?
 
UNIVERSAL CENTURY -  THE ORIGINAL AND MAIN TIMELINE


Starting with Mobile Suit Gundam, in 1979, this timeline tries to be the most realistic one, and started the real robo genre (even if by modern standards it's too silly for it). The animated shows are, in chronological order (NOTE: if you're watching Gundam for the first time, don't watch according to inner chronology; it's better to watch in Production order)

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM [series] -> MSG MS IGLOO [OVA] (happens all around the first series) -> MSG: THE 8TH MS TEAM [OVA] (happens around midway the main show) -> GUNDAM 0080: WAR IN THE POCKET [OVA] (happens around the end of the main show) -> GUNDAM 0083 STARDUST MEMORY [OVA] -> ZETA GUNDAM [series] -> ZZ GUNDAM [series] - > CHAR'S COUNTERATTACK [film] -> GUNDAM UNICORN [OVA] -> GUNDAM F91 [film] -> VICTORY GUNDAM [series] -> G-SAVIOUR [live action film]

The themes of this timeline tend to revolve around the Earth Federation and their conflicts with various space organizations- mainly the Principality of Zeon and their remnants (Neo-Zeon, etc.) or, around the Victory era, the Jupiterians. War scenarios, grey moralities, lots of drama, focus on the effects of war in the civilization, the evolution of mankind into Newtypes (basically psychics- the idea being that when mankind expands into space, they start developing latent psychic abilities to maintain contact between people). The Gundams, white robots with V-fins feared by all enemy factions, tend to be test-beds for new technology by the Federation (or companies hired by the Federation), with a tradition to be stolen and piloted by Newtype untrained kids.

FUTURE CENTURY - G GUNDAM


Created in the early 90's, the first Gundam show both without Tomino input and not on the Universal Century era, and one of the most successful in the US, G Gundam was developed by Yasuhiro Imagawa as a homage of the exact same kind of Super Robot shows Gundam tried to distance itself from- Mazinger, Getter Robo, etc.

In the future, mankind moves into space colonies. To avoid war, a scheme is created in which every nation will create a Gundam and have a fighter pilot it- and thus every few years, a Gundam Fight will happen, where the entire planet is used as a battleground for the Gundams to battle until a winner is left- the Gundam elected Gundam of Gundams (IIRC), and the country ruling the world for the next years. We follow Domon Kasshu, Japan's pilot, as he tries to find his brother, the pilot of the evil regenerative machine, Devil Gundam; leading to that Gundam Fight in particular being derailed by bigger events, as Domon gets allies, makes enemies, and fights for his love, his sorrow, and all of his anger.

If someone asks for a Gundam show to get a good idea of what Gundam is, G Gundam is definitely NOT the show to recommend; it is amazing in its own right though, and it's worth the watch.
 
AFTER COLONY - NEW MOBILE REPORT GUNDAM WING, MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING: ENDLESS WALTZ


The second non-UC Gundam show created, this is the most famous one amongst US fans, and one of the most hated amongst old-school UC Gundam fans.
 
Trying to emulate a feel closer to the original Gundams as opposed to G Gundam's sillyness, Gundam Wing is about a war between Earth and its colonies in space; however, in contrast to the Universal Century continuity, the Gundams in Wing are more closely allied to each other than they are to any particular side in the conflict unfolding around them. Basically, 5 rebel scientists from, IIRC, the colonies, create each a Gundam and send it to Earth with a pilot, with the objective being the 5 taking down Earth's military, the OZ.

Critiques tend to center around re-used animation, plot holes, and bad characterisation; personally, I think most of the flack it gets is simply out of a TTGL effect, with new fans going "wow this is the best thing ever" ignoring the previously established material. Endless Waltz, the sequel OVA, tends to be better received, though.

AFTER WAR - AFTER WAR GUNDAM X


The third non-UC show, this is probably one of the closest to the source material. Focusing on a grim post-apocalyptic world where 99% of mankind on the surface of the world were killed in a space colony drop in the 7th Space War. 15 years later, the survivors trudge on, with Mobile Suits occasionally falling in random hands, and an organisation being made to try and protect Newtypes (who in here aren't just humans, there's Dolphin Newtypes) from falling in the wrong hands. An old government resurfaces and attempts world unity, a faction of revolutionaries in the space, and there's the recipe for the fires of war to be fanned again.

CORRECT CENTURY - ∀ GUNDAM (read Turn A Gundam)


The fourth non-UC show, Tomino's first non-UC show, and Tomino's last Gundam show, AND also my favourite Gundam ever, plus one of my favourite shows. Done as an anniversary celebration by Tomino, it's his way to thank the franchise for what it did, and try to signal a new direction for it, which controversially included getting famous western sci-fi concept artist Syd Mead to draw the concepts for the mechas. This didn't pay however, as the show was financially panned for being too different, and all the shows from there on are just frank rehashes of the first Gundam one.

In the far, far future, technology was destroyed by something known as Black History, resulting, millenia after, in a very Ghibli world, that kind of whimsical 19th-century England-Holland type of place with old bikes and early airplanes and Ford T-styled cars. Contrasting with this state of Earth, is the Moon, where civilization is still futuristic and advanced. Our story begins with Moon preparing their return to Earth by sending a series of kids to being living there, of which we focus on Rolan Cehack, who becomes the butler of rich girl Kihel Heim, who happens to be a perfect doppelganger of Moon princess Dianna Soriel.

The Moonrace attack, and the earth forces fight back when they discover that the White Doll, a statue idolized since past times, is actually a Gundam, THE last Gundam; Rolan pilots it, trying to achieve peace between his Moonrace origins and the Earth people he loves. ∀ Gundam is notable in the fact that it's the one Gundam show where the objective is to avoid war, not fight it; as a result, while the mecha fights are good, they are rare, as the objective is more on the politics and effects of the invasion on people.

The other thing that makes ∀ Gundam notable is the Black History, which is, well, a massive spoiler; basically,

this show reveals that all previous Gundam timelines are part of the same universe, the implication being that they constantly end with total technological destruction and rebuilding of civilization; ending in the final timeline of all, that of ∀ Gundam. THAT is the Black History.

COSMIC ERA - MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM SEED, MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM SEED DESTINY

OH BOY GUNDAM SEED

There is no Gundam show more divisive than this. Essentially a remake of the first Gundam show, likely as a response to ∀ Gundam's reception, it was a mild success in the US, but loathed by old school fans, with everything that SEED does good being done better in the original shows, and everything the original shows do being done worse in SEED. Designs aimed at fan-girls had a predictable response in the mostly-male fanbase, absurd amounts of stock footage re-use (to the point that dead characters keep showing up), and BEAMSPAM galore. On the other hand, many like it for mostly the same reasons old fans like 0079, being attracted by the character development and war scenarios.

SEED Destiny takes everything that was bad about SEED and amps it to 11. Avoid.

ANNO DOMINI - MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 00

This one is considered a sad case. Starting with an intention of doing something new with the franchise, reinventing it to the post 9/11 world. In the year 2307 AD, fossil fuels have all but vanished and the distribution of energy is unbalanced. Humanity now relies on three large-scale solar power systems controlled by three multinational power blocks: the Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations (Union), the Human Reform League (HRL), and the Advanced European Union (AEU). With this nearly inexhaustible source of energy benefiting only these three powers and their allies, constant warfare erupted around the globe among minor countries for precious fuels and energy. Countries whose economy relied solely on the sale of fossil fuels were plunged into poverty and some even believed that the solar power system threatened the "promised land of God", resulting in the twenty year-long Solar Wars. Such a chaotic reality has lead to the creation of a paramilitary organization in possession of four highly advanced humanoid mobile suits called "Gundams" and a mysterious technology known as the "GN Drive". They call themselves Celestial Being, and their goal is nothing less than the complete eradication of war through the use of war itself. (thanks Gundam Wiki, didn't feel like explaining 00).

Season 2, however, moves on to more LET'S BE COOL AND FLASHY statuses, with teleporting and beamspams and overall it's not bad, but falls a bit from Season 1.

ADVANCED GENERATION - MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM AGE

The most recent AU Gundam series, Gundam AGE... I don't know much about it. From what I've seen, it was a critical failure. So let's go to Gundam Wiki.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE takes place over the course of a century during a "One Hundred Year War". Mankind had migrated to space colonies several centuries ago, with wars on Earth having long ended. Suddenly during the Advanced Generation (AG) Year 101 an Unknown Enemy (UE) appears and starts to attack Earth and colonies starting a full-scale war. They destroy the space colony "Angel" in a disaster later referred to as "The Day the Angel Fell". In AG 108 the UE attack a once peaceful colony known as "Orvan". Flit Asuno, a seven-year-old boy at the time, had his mother killed in this attack. Before she died, she gave him the Asuno family heirloom—the "AGE Device " memory unit. Using plans hidden within this unit, Flit begins to develop the mobile suit "Gundam", humanity's last hope.

There. From what I've gathered, it tried to both innovate a lot and appeal to kids while playing it safe and rehashing the original show, managing neither.

Sad, I like the character designs.

OTHERS - SD Gundam, Gunpla

Regarding animus, there's still a couple of spinoffs to the metaseries. There were comedic shows about SD Gundams (chibi-versions of Gundam, which was incidentally going to be adapted to an awful Western cartoon show- search "Doozybots"), and an anime about kids building 1:1 plastic models of Gundams. It's all good.

 

 

And that's that. Gundam thread. Now we can discuss it without invading the statuses.

[Soniman]

G Gundam was the best, the only Gundam show I watched in full and it was a blast from start to finish.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Give some of Imagawa's other stuff a try too- Shin Mazinger, Giant Robo the Animation, Tetsujin-28 (2004). It's all good.

 

EDIT: Also, to anyone wanting to get into Universal Century, now is a great time as GUNDAM: The Origin, a manga remake of the first show known for its quality storytelling, art, and bizarre covers, is getting published in the US; and will, in a couple of years, get adapted to anime.

AMURO WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO POOR FRAW BOW

Edited April 22, 2013 by Captain Harlock

[Urban Flow]

My favorite has always been Gundam Wing. I loved it. Ever since I saw it on Toonami.

[Supaidaman]

My first experience with Gundam was also with Gundam Wing, the only one that was dubbed and aired here in Brazil. Like in the US, it was shown on Toonami and I don't remember much of it. I couldn't watch it a lot because of the timeslot. Then, a few years later, I tried to watch Gundam Seed because a friend of mine loved it... and I hated it. I think I gave up on the 8th episode or something like that. I didn't like the characters, specially the main one.

 

The first Gundam series that I actually finished was 00. I liked the first season a lot, it was fun how it mixed the real world felling with the sci-fi thing. But the second season was a mess. Very crazy and it lost all the "real world" charm that the first season had. Not bad, but not good overall.

 

I'm trying to watch Gundam AGE now, though I'm doing it very slowly. I have watched 8 episodes and for me it's fine, for now at least. Not overly exciting but fun. I'm also planning to watch Turn A Gundam and G Gundam someday. As for the original ones, I'm definitely checking out this origin anime when it's released.

Edited April 22, 2013 by ViniciusLC

[MegasonicZX]

I remember watching gundam wing on toonami when I was a kid but the only episode I can remember is the episode with the guy that was in the circus and he wore that mask and I think it was a 2 part episode but I never actually saw the second part. Also, G Gundam is also my favorite though I've never actually finished watching it. Come to think of it I haven't watched a single gundam in full yet.

[Pawn]

I absolutely loved Wing back in the days of Toonami. I also bought and loved all of SEED, but was very disappointed in the follow-up, Destiny. Like you say though, repeated frames were a particular problem. I was only able to forgive that after experiencing Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z around the same time.

 

With Wing, it was just so new to me. It was the third anime I'd ever seen and was obviously a lot more serious than Pokemon or DBZ. Also big, shiny robots fighting with light sabers? Mechanical dragon arms? A beam SCYTHE!? I was in awe of all this crazy Japanese stuff XD. I didn't really care so much about the characters, I suppose. Zechs was kind of cool at least.

 

As for SEED, I did care about the characters. I don't think I'd have continued watching otherwise, as the cool factor of the robots alone wouldn't have sufficed anymore (and weren't that impressive until shit got real in the second half anyway). I actually went to the trouble of buying the DVDs as they were released, and aside from some bullshit episodes where the retell the story so far, were pretty satisfying with each installment.

 

It's quite difficult to remember a lot of either though, as I haven't watched them for about 8 years. I've tried watching bits of SEED again on Youtube but, as with DBZ and Wing, I just can't back get into it.

Edited April 22, 2013 by Pawn

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Yeah, funny thing about the Gundam franchise is that I never liked it when I was young. And I don't have a solid reason why, but the most I can remember is that it wasn't like DBZ at the time when they were side-by-side on Toonami.

 

After rewatching Gundam Wing and getting interested in the series, I've been wondering just what the fuck was wrong with me as a child for not liking them.

 

So far, I've seen some of the Gundams, namely Wing, 00, UC's 08th Team that I'm currently watching, and I'm REALLY interested in Turn-A Gundam.

 

Don't exactly have a favorite among them, tho.

 

But I have to say that 00 is an interesting case because I have a bit of a love-hate with it: I love the animation, the designs and technology, some of the details of the world, and some of the characters while understanding some of the criticisms behind it effectively turning it from a Real Robot to a Super Robot-esque show, and to say nothing of the Movie that I have yet to watch. Also, that fucking script! UGH! There are some good moments to it, but it just has a lot of narm to it as well. And some of the characterization seems iffy at times.

 

As for Gundam Wing? Well I'm just watching it for the sake of watching it and regaining some memories of my childhood. So my thoughts are generally neutral, but favorable.

 

08th Team? Oh I'm definitely loving this. Might actually watch the whole series while I'm at it.

 

So yeah, I went from a Gundam hater as a child to a Gundam fan as an adult. And everything about it, from the good to the bad, has given me even more inspiration and more interest in Hard Sci-Fi series.

[\gunther]

I'll make a post about my Gundam Love later, but for now I just gotta say that the character designs in SEED always weirded me out. Look at Kira here:

What's up with that nose? He looks like a Muppet.

[Salamander]

I've only seen Gundam 00, and for that I was really impressed by the post-9/11 politics of the first season.  It's been a few years now, so I can't really go into specifics any more, but it felt really credible and worth actually taking seriously as a work of political commentary, or rather a work specifically influenced by the world's political development after 9/11.  Unfortunately, the second season wasn't about the politics, it was more about itself and its own internal sci-fi ideas, but it couldn't make up its mind about how some stuff worked, flagrantly didn't know what to do with some of the cast, and I generally just found it to be a let-down.  I guess the only good thing about it was that the plot was less episodic, but that didn't really matter when they would introduce plot threads and then never resolve them or rewind character development every episode.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Yeah, they really wasted a perfectly good plot in season 2 of 00.

 

Also, I wanna punch Setsuna in the face every time he says the word Gundam in the most awkward of places. Talk about an obsession.

[Salamander]

Also, I wanna punch Setsuna in the face every time he says the word Gundam in the most awkward of places. Talk about an obsession.

 

Setsuna: "Gundam..."

Tieria: "Rockon..."

Allelujah: "MAAAAAAAARIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEE!"

Lockon: "What's my motivation this week?"

[Mauro Fonseca]

Advice for anyone wanting to try Turn A Gundam, you'll enjoy it more if you watch G Gundam, Gundam Wing, and Gundam 0079 first. It's not required, but it will enhance the experience.

Regarding Gundam 0079, an alternative to watching it if you don't want to wait until they finish Banagher's story to start Gundam: The Origin is to watch the three compilation films, which have slightly improved animation from the original.

[Yoko/葉子]

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/pictures/l/13/43/NEOBK-1424149.jpg

 

Oh my, Rie Tanaka cosplaying as Lacus Clyne from Seed, whom she played.